Small photo album of Red Army soldier

[Adrian Stevenson]

I think photo albums from Private soldiers are harder to find, well they certainly they are in England.

This one starts on Victory Day May 9th 1945 and runs through until 1947. It belongs to a member of a Guards Regt who was in Vienna. Sadly there are no names. I bought this from a Polish guy at the Beltring show.

Cheers, Ade.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Next few.

Not sure what the pic of him in the hat and leather coat are about? Any ideas?

Cheers, Ade.

[Adrian Stevenson]

A couple more shots. On my recent trip to Vienna I was keen to see the "Big Wheel". Badly damged by fire in the closing days of the war, it was restored and open again by 1947.

The figure in the centre pic appears to show an Austrian man in uniform. The banner reads "победа" or Victory.

Cheers, Ade.

[Adrian Stevenson]

A few more shots taken around the city.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

A couple more shots. On my recent trip to Vienna I was keen to see the "Big Wheel". Badly damged by fire in the closing days of the war, it was restored and open again by 1947.

The figure in the centre pic appears to show an Austrian man in uniform.

Cheers, Ade.

These are the Riesenrad in the Prater in the 2d District. The latter was part of the Soviet Zone in its day, as Wien was divided like Berlin, with the 1st district being the international and under multi-national patrol. This landmark was immortalized in Korda's 3d Man. The Prater was a kind of fore runner of Disneyland in the early 20th century.

The Riesenrad was also owned by an Austrian Jew and seized by the Nazis in 1938. Many of Vienna's best pieces of real estate and most pleasing locales were in Jewish ownership, and then seized by the Nazis in a huge act of theft justified by the ideology's racism.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

A few more shots taken around the city.

These shots show the Gloriette on the hill above Schoenbruenn, in the west of the city towards the Wienerwald. There are shots of the Palace itself, the Habsburg answer to Bourbon glory at Versailles. Also here is a shot of the Parlament on the Ringstrasse, a building that had negative meaning for both the Nazis and the Soviets, actually. There is a very nice cafe in the Gloriette. Actually, there is a very nice cafe and more in most neighborhoods, and Adrian Stevenson has to visit mine on the border of the VI and the IV districts. No one there thinks at all about color piped SS caps. They enjoy life in the here and now while raising their blood fats without crouching in front of a stupid computer screen like this one.

The barracks for SSVT 3 "Der Fuehrer" is actually around the corner from the Gloriette and the gardens of Schoenbruenn. It is in use today as a major Vienna barracks for the Bundesheer. When you ask leading figures who built it, of course, they shrug their shoulders. Wien is a wonderful place and just as filled with Russians today as in said storied time of the black market and Harry Lime. This time, though, they have buckets of money and know what is good in life. Those of us with an empty piggy bank can wish them well. Wien belongs to the world, including this wonderful album. Thanks for showing it to us.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Thank you very much "FB". That is really interesting to know where the various sights are located.

I should really have asked about the album before my visit to the city last month.

I think I should also watch the "The Third man" again as it is many many years since I watched it.

Cheers, Ade.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thank you very much "FB". That is really interesting to know where the various sights are located.

I should really have asked about the album before my visit to the city last month.

I think I should also watch the "The Third man" again as it is many many years since I watched it.

Cheers, Ade.

When you come to Wien, you can take a Harry Lime tour of all the relevant places. The Hotel Sacher is in the 1st District, next to the Opera. It is a glitzy tourist trap today. A lot of the running around in the film is near the Karlsplatz, which is not very far away from the Hotel Sacher; the Prater is across the Donaukanal in the 2d District. The sewers are the most dramatic locale, and, truth be told, in fifty visits to Vienna, I have never been in them. The whole film arose for Graham Greene out of the activities of the Vienna Police anti-black market squad who also operated beneath the city in the Kanalisation. The 3d Man is my favorite movie. Oh, and the Wiener Zentral Friedhof is off to the eastern edge of town, towards Schwechat. The Westbahnhof, which is also in the film, is in the direction of Schoenbruenn at the end of Mariahilferstrasse. Your Flaktuerme at near here, too. It is all wonderful and marvelous, as is the rest of Europe. Even the amusing site in Poland where the locals have rescued the Sturmgeschuetz is central Europe and site of so many interesting things.

And, when one considers the missions and functions of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan today in post conflict reconstruction, then the film has a lot to say of merit, aside from its wonderful atmosphere and mood.

[StefanM]

Great little album, thanks for posting Ade and to FB for additional contextual information